Visa reports success with Electron debit cards<\/p>\n
JAKARTA (JP): Visa International said here on Tuesday that the
\nnumber of its Visa Electron debit cardholders had exceeded one
\nmillion since its first launch in the country earlier this year.<\/p>\n
Visa country manager Ellyana C. Fuad said that Visa Electron
\ndebit cardholders in the country reached more than 1.5 million,
\nwith about 1.2 million coming from LippoBank's customers.<\/p>\n
\"Since its first launch in January this year, LippoBank has
\nbecome the first bank to exceed the one million cardholder number
\nin Indonesia, the first bank in southeast Asia, and the first
\nbank in the Asia-Pacific,\" she said in a media gathering here.<\/p>\n
Besides LippoBank, Visa has also cooperated with Bank Niaga,
\nBank Universal, and Bank Bali for the Visa Electron debit
\nfacility, Ellyana said, explaining that the other three banks had
\njust launched their Visa services so they had not accumulated as
\nmany cardholders as LippoBank.<\/p>\n
In 2001 Visa anticipates another four banks will join in the
\nVisa Electron facility, giving the company about 300% growth
\nduring the year, she said.<\/p>\n
\"All bank customers are our target customers and in five years
\nwe want to achieve 12 million cardholders in Indonesia,\" Ellyana
\nsaid.<\/p>\n
Lippobank director of consumer banking Harry Sasongko claimed
\nthat the Visa Electron debit card is the first signature-based
\ndebit facility in Indonesia.<\/p>\n
As simple as credit cards but without the high interest rates
\nand the danger of overspending, the Visa Electron needs only the
\ncustomer's signature for purchase approval, he said.<\/p>\n
The debit card could be used in over 25,000 merchants in
\nIndonesia, and about 10 million points of sales across the world,
\nHarry said.<\/p>\n
It could also be used at 35,000 automatic teller machines
\n(ATMs) across Indonesia and at more than 500,000 ATMs in the
\nworld, he added.<\/p>\n
Harry said that since the card's launch, the volume of
\ntransactions on the card had totaled Rp 75 billion (US$7.9
\nmillion), with Rp 18 billion worth of transactions during
\nSeptember alone.<\/p>\n
\"The success of LippoBank Visa Electron is mainly from being
\nin the right place at the right time. We launched our product
\njust when people were having bad experiences with credit cards
\nand there high interest rates,\" he said.<\/p>\n
He said that he expects to achieve at least two million
\ncardholders in 2001.<\/p>\n
LippoBank president Ian B. Clyne said that the bank's
\ncustomers had increased by 400,000 in the last six months of the
\nyear to a total of 2.7 million customers.<\/p>\n
\"We will focus on increasing our customer base to over
\n 4 million next year,\" he said.<\/p>\n
The bank's third party's funds increased to Rp 7 trillion
\n($736.8 million) from Rp 3.5 trillion at the beginning of the
\nyear, Clyne said. (tnt)<\/p>",
"url": "https:\/\/jawawa.id\/newsitem\/visa-reports-success-with-electron-debit-cards-1447893297",
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